Seven o' clock. An alarm ringed its modest call, and Mario's eyes bolted open. His red bedsheets were flung across the room as the plumber shook with energy. He arched his plump body upwards, and, with a triumphant cry, leapt out of bed and punched the air.

Then, landing on the wooden floor below, froze. He sighed.

Luigi- his younger, taller twin brother- walked into the room in his typical green and blue dungarees, a plate of fried toast and mushrooms in his gloved hands. He watched as Mario slumped where he stood, and listlessly placed his breakfast on the corner desk.

"Really now, bro, I don't get why you bother still getting up at this hour," Luigi muttered. "Nothing's stirring at all these days aside from Mushroom Tea- just stand down for once, eh, bro?"

Mario knew it was true, but years of adventuring and princess-saving didn't prepare oneself for such eras coming about. It had been about a month now since Mario had last pushed his comfort zones- rescuing his friend Pauline from an overexcited D.K. in some underground train systems, or something; it felt too long ago now to remember- and his days were now spent pottering around the house. An age of prosperity- except it wasn't. There was no invigorating peace or joy sweeping the Kingdom; it was just dull.

Bowser- Mario's persistent Koopa foe, continually running invasions on the Kingdom- seemed to have dried up his deposit of ideas. Wario was too busy devising some new mini games- "I'll be rich!" he had said, not for the first time- and all the kart races, parties, Olympic events and even basketball tournaments had long passed. There were news of a large fighting tournament and another Grand Prix coming later in the year, but they were later in the year. How was a plumber like him expected to keep himself busy when he was living in a static society?

Mario grabbed his plate and cutlery, and mechanically began to eat. He didn't really register the taste of freshly picked shrooms or smell of warm toast, even though Luigi had invested great effort into making it as special as possible to raise his brother's spirits.

After a few moments realising that his brother's mood would stay remarkably stubborn, Luigi walked out of the small bedroom, now sharing in Mario's gloom. He couldn't think of much else he could do to help- much as Mario opposed Bowser's repugnant plots, they always, at least, gave him an opportunity to act. Like a doctor- they may be horrified and enraged by the diseases they witness, but without these to tackle, what sort of direction could they really be taking?

...now that's a thought, decided Luigi. Mario took up work as a doctor several times before, hadn't he? Maybe a return would get him up and running- who knows, perhaps this whole silence was actually because everyone was too ill to get around to anything? 'Thinking about it,' Luigi considered, 'perhaps even I could have a go at it...' He grabbed around in the main room's cupboard, and, eventually, found an old medical book Professor E. Gadd had passed onto him long ago. Sitting down by the central table, flipping open the dusty volume, an optimistic smile graced Luigi's lips. Yes- this could this work out quite nicely indeed...

Toadsworth could tell something was dreadfully wrong- he hadn't been tired out for absolutely ages. Life as the Princess's steward was a whirlwind of worries- stressing over her risky exploits, panicking over her prolonged absences, fearing her kidnappers were subjecting her to unspeakable injustices... and don't get him started on the amount of walking it all involved. Oh, how his back ached, all the walking back and forth after her in her excited stages...

Yet, now that these fears have dissipated alongside the maelstroms of the Kingdom, Toadsworth was finding that strolling around was becoming the most pleasurable pastime of his days. With his duties no longer as pressing or numerous, his schedule now allowed for much more opportunity to see the Kingdom of which he fretted for so much.

It felt like stepping around in a new world; so much had the Castle's activities kept him from the land outside. But now, he was free! Free to smell the flowers in the fields, feel the warmth of the unfiltered sun on his weary skin, to dance and-

Toadsworth's bones cracked with an audible crunch, and he arched his back painfully. Okay... perhaps he hadn't regained enough vigour to dance, but he still felt younger than his body could recall.

He envied two Toad children playing in the field nearby, frolicking after each other in circles again and again. They seemed fairly young- about 8 or so, Toadsworth guessed- and were as happy-go-lucky as you would expect children to be.

Odd, though. Toadsworth looked closer at the two, and recognised their clothing- raggy red and orange cloths, with patches of white circles of wool dotted around them, symbolic of the types of mushrooms found in the wild. Now, Toadsworth was hardly the expert of what was and wasn't à la mode, but, unless he was very much mistaken, this range of clothing had faded out of style and production years ago, long before he had even been born. The two young Toads, though, were running around in them as if they weren't committing any fashion crime whatsoever.

Probably just playacting, Toadsworth guessed. Such a joy, to see the younger generation paying tribute to their past. Ah, the past...

Toadsworth shook himself out of his nostalgia, and gasped with shock upon looking at his trusty wristwatch. Ten minutes he'd just spent lost in his memories! He despaired at his sentimentality- whatever happened to his focus and his in-the-moment mindset? The watch he wore reflected the Toad that he was- old and battered, and on the way to an unceremonious retirement.

The watch jumped back twenty minutes. Toadsworth frowned. He knew it wasn't much compared to the newest models, but flying back twenty minutes was a tad too flawed for him to tolerate. As if realising his scrutiny, the hands of the watch jumped back to half past seven.

"You stale old thing, you..." murmured Toadsworth to himself. Looking up again, he realised that the two young Toads he had been watching before were still engaged in their simple play, making the same paths without end and without tiring.

Had they been romping around all this time? Toadsworth admired their liveliness, though their originality was somewhat lacking. Why couldn't they muck around like the other modern kids; drawing pictures, playing tag, or even those newfangled gadgets- what were they called again? Those small little 3D handheld things... 'Ah, yes!' Toadsworth remembered. 'Those gadgets, those Ninte-'

He lost his track of thought all of a sudden as the two kids vanished. He gaped. His mind didn't slip away from the present day right then, he was certain. He didn't look away and miss the two going away. They had just disappeared. Right into thin air.

Now this was nonsense. Two little Toad boys can't just evaporate just like that. It was a magic trick; it must have been. Rationalising what he was, Toadsworth swung round from stupefaction to crotchetiness. Trick an old Toad like him, now, would they?

"Well, I'll show you a trick or two!" Toadsworth shouted into the air.

With newly found fervour, he rushed across to where the two had been just a few moments ago- where they must be hiding themselves somehow, Toadsworth reasoned- and threw his arms out, reaching for whatever invisible cloak or modern trickery they had used to obscure themselves.

There was nothing. He stepped around adamantly for a few moments, knowing that, in a second or two, he'll feel his fingers collide with soft, squishy flesh, and the kids would get a good what for or two.

Minutes passed. Nothing.

At this point, Toadsworth slowed to a halt, realising that his complaints would not be expelled anytime soon. He hated to admit it, but two tiny Toads had bested an experienced steward of his wisdom. No wonder the Princess was so often stolen away- if he couldn't even handle two meddlesome kids...

And there they were again. Appearing out of the blue just as they had dissipated away, the two had returned, still chasing after each other as if nothing had just happened.

Toadsworth shrieked with surprise, and once again then, but now of sheer vexation. 'As if it weren't crude enough to play tricks on an elder like me,' Toadsworth seethed, 'they have the hauteur to reappear so I would think myself delirious! Well, now, this is most, most inexcusable!'

Wasting no time to confront his tormentors, Toadsworth shot out a tense hand towards the taller of two, resolute that they would be forced to see the errors of their ways.

His hand passed right through the boy. Toadsworth froze. This couldn't be right... As if to prove him wrong, the second Toad followed through, dashing through his arm as if it were a feature only in fiction. But there was no fiction in this; this was truth. A weird truth, a disturbing and unheard of truth, but truth nonetheless.

Toadsworth, timidly, inched his body a few steps forward, dreading what he knew would happen, but testing it nonetheless. Just as he expected, both of the kids ran their cycle through him without any acknowledgement.

He felt a gulp build itself up within his throat. For once, he wished this was Bowser, that it was a problem that made sense. A fear that could be explained.

His watch jumped forward another three hours. And the Mushroom Kingdom's time was counting down.